...The basis of conspiracy theories shows trends of repetition throughout history that implement fear into everyday life. True or untrue, conspiracies are still followed, almost religiously, by many people. Theories that are wrong are still being pursued by people, and the choices they make based on those theories influence how they live their life. Conspiracies start from a source that is displeased by a particular group or activity. The source of the conspiracies usually makes them to slander the group that they are displeased with. The global catastrophe, which was known as the end of the world, compelled fear into the minds of people everywhere. For decades, 2012 was prophesized as being the end. The Mayans had carved a calendar that mysteriously stopped on December 21, 2012. Because the Mayans were such a highly respected and omniscient civilization, people instantly believed that the world would end based on their predictions from thousands of years ago. “The Maya invented an accurate calendar almost 2,000 years ago which measured time in 394-year periods known as baktuns and some anthropologists believe the 13th baktun ends on December 21. While some experts say the calendar never actually predicted an apocalypse, it has been interpreted that way by doom mongers all over the world.”(“End” N.A.). Others believed that a massive planet, four times the size of Jupiter, called Nibiru would collide with the earth or come close enough to shift the world’s polar axis and cause a...
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...The political science literature of conspiracy theories remains decades old and robust. Beginning with Hofstadter (1964), researchers began to investigate the “paranoid style” of American politics while in the midst of the Cold War and McCarthyism. Although these early investigations helped to build a solid foundation of literature on conspiracism, the focus of this review remains to highlight and synthesize the most recent literature, which will in turn help to address the complex question of this paper. Recent surveys indicate that half of the American population endorses at least one conspiracy theory (Oliver & Wood, 2014). For instance, as of 2015, 36% of American respondents believed that the United States government had either assisted...
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...Introduction Here To truly understand conspiracy theories, we need to first know what they are. The dictionary defines conspiracies as a secret plan, usually enacted by a group of officials, to do something unlawful or harmful. Conspiracy theories link seemingly unrelated evidence together to form a theory for events different from the official account, if there is one. The key point to understand is that conspiracy theories can be real. It’s not all skinny crazy white dudes living in their parent’s basements with walls plastered with photographs and red lines. (although it still could be). So real or unreal, conspiracy theories try to explain a set of events that don’t seem to otherwise add up. Speaking of crazy white dude, who believes...
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...Conspiracy theories fascinate and open people's mind to strange, but potentially true possibilities. Conspiracy theories have been around since the beginning of time, and have had an influence on the lives of skeptics. But why do people believe in them? What makes them so interesting? People that study human patterns have discovered that humans believe in conspiracy theories because of human gullibility. Human gullibility is seen mostly through conspiracy theories. Conspiracy theories happen because skeptics believe there is more to know about a specific event that has happened. Also, humans lack trust in their governments which has affected the way people act and think. Scientists have researched the human brain and have discovered patterns in the human brain. One of the patterns is human gullibility/curiosity. Humans are a curious species. They...
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...scholar Peter Knight. The article critically analyzes the conspiracy theories that emerged in American society years after the tragic events of 9/11. Knight’s main assertion through out the article, is that 9/11 conspiracy theories have more in common with the official reports of the events of 9/11 than many people would assume. He does this my showing comparing and contrasting the two accounts, highlighting the similarities in their narratives. Firstly, the author supports his claim by showing how they both reinforce an essentialist framework of thinking. Firstly, there was a rejection of any blame or accountability, as president Bush...
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...“One problem with the focus on speculation is that it tends to promote the growth of the great intellectual cancer of our times: conspiracy theories.” ~ Gary Weiss. This quote means that, if there is a problem or something sounds suspicious, we will investigate it and come up with our own reasons for why it happened. Though sometimes the theory we come up with may sound stupid, we still believe it. The conspiracy theories are intellectual cancer because some theories actually sound more believable than others and it just spreads and becomes an epidemic. Some theories are just that interesting. Would you trust a memory that felt as real as all your other memories, and if other people confirmed that they remembered it too? Even if it was false?...
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...development of a conspiracy theorist (Prooijen 1). Conspiracies often circulate around people or events of great magnitude. Theorists try to explain this imbalance of power with the existence of a powerful and evil enemy. By creating the “man behind the curtain,” someone who pulls on the strings of fate, everyday people have a reason for why things...
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...After reading Fish’s essay, I arrived at the conclusion that a conspiracy theorist is an individual who seeks out the truth behind an event. A conspiracy theorist may also be an individual who researches alternative explanations for situations that may not be widely accepted. I think anyone can fit into this category because anyone can do thorough research to uncover the truth behind a certain event and draw conclusions about who or what caused that event. There can be a range of definitions for the term, “conspiracy theorist.” Most of these definitions include some sort of covert or secret planning by either an organization or the government of a country. The term has more negative connotations than positive connotations because most people...
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...The world as we now it today has suffered a great deal of tragic events,natural casaulties and wars.But have you wondered,what if everything is a lie?That's when conspiracy theories come in hand. A conspiracy theory is a belief that,when a tragic event happens,a secret conspiracy has actually been decisive in producing an evil outcome. Let's take a look at some of the most controversial theories. [list]1.[i]9/11[/i][/list] This tragic event happened on 11 September 2001 when four planes were hijacked by al-Qaeda and two of them were flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York, killing 2,996 people.There are many theories surrounding 9/11.One is that aluminum planes can’t penetrate steel structure Of World Trade Center...
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...While conspiracy theories have existed since the beginning of media in one form or another, they have been especially prevalent in the last few decades. Ever since the invention of the internet, the spread of self published ideas has been easier than ever, resulting in the growing number of skeptics. Conspiracy theories have been widely accepted more than ever since the previous presidential election, as mainstream media outlets picked up several theories regarding the two main candidates. So to understand this broadening phenomena, one must know the kind of people who believe conspiracy theories, why they are inclined to believe them, and what effects they are having on the world. Identifying the people who tend to believe conspiracy theories...
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...“Theory” is based on the idea used to a justify a course of action.With in the article by Jesse Walker “A theory about conspiracy theory” and Seitz Wald’s article “ Why people believe in conspiracy theories”. They have proved many similarities and differences. Political paranoia is everywhere, but having also accusations tell us about the people who believe in them. The conspiracy theory in Jesse Walkers perspective is that, “ Some conspiracies are real, of course, but even a conspiracy theory that is entirely false has truths to tell us about the anxieties and experiences of the people who believe it…it tells us ways people view the world” .The meaning of this quotation is that people are allowed to believe in conspiracy theories in order to shape the way they live and their emotions of the society. On the other hand Seitz- Wald’s theory states that their are “ Psychological forces like motivated reasoning have long been associated with...
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...What are conspiracy theories? - Explanations – power relations A conspiracy theory is an explanatory proposition that accuses two or more persons, a group, or an organization of having caused through secret planning and deliberate action, an illegal event or situation. People formulate conspiracy theories to explain, for example, power relations in social groups and the perceived existence of evil forces. - Oxford English Dictionary: The American Historical Review - 1909 According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the first use of the phrase "conspiracy theory" occurred in a 1909 article in The American Historical Review Why do people believe in conspiracy theories? - A sense of control There are number of factors, but probably one of the most important ones in this instance is that, paradoxically, it gives people a sense of control. People hate randomness, they dread the sort of random occurrences that can destroy their lives, so as a mechanism against that dread, it turns out that it’s much easier to believe in a conspiracy. Then you have someone to blame, it’s not just randomness. - Psychological forces (VS evidence-based thinking) Psychological forces like motivated reasoning have long been associated with conspiracy thinking, but scientists are learning more every year. On the other side there is the evidence-based thinking which most of the people who do not believe in these theories have. o Motivated reasoning Motivated reasoning is an emotion-biased...
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...Before I explain why I would limit the information content of conspiracy theories and political misinformation on the internet, first I need to define and distinguish what classifies as a conspiracy theory and political misinformation. Conspiracy theories and political misinformation are more common than most people believe. There are conspiracies in every aspect of our lives. They come in many form and nuance. It can be blatantly false, or too systematically complex to prove wrong. It is fair to point out that the word “theory” in conspiracy theory is not used in the same understanding or value of the term “theory” used by scientists in industry and academia. Anyone can have theory and the meaning of that term can differ greatly from one to another....
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...Conspiracy Theories: Secrecy and power in American culture is a book that analyzes conspiracy theories and how they affect life in America. This book was written by Mark Fenster who is a professor at the University of Florida Law School. He graduated from several schools with several different degrees. These are a J.D. from Yale Law School, a Ph. D. from the University of illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the institute of Communications Research, M.A., University of Texas at Austin, Department of Radio/television, film, and a B.A. from the University of Virginia. This book was the first book Fenster ever wrote, but is said to have helped establish the cultural study of conspiracy theory. This book has also been quoted by many scholars. This book analyzes different conspiracy theories in our society. Some examples that the book features are the very popular 9/11 conspiracy theories and even stories of different christian conspiracy theories. Fenster explains many different type of conspiracy theories that come about from people. Some can be a little crazy such as the one that planes never actually hit the twin towers and that they...
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...only about 50% of citizens receive vaccines for their children. Evidently this is the lowest level in Australia and is compared to South Sudan (McCutcheon, 2015).There are various researches that have come up to explain how conspiracy, paranormal, and spirituality are related to anti-vaccination, but it is clear that none of them was bold enough to explain why. For instance, in line with conspiracy theory, Kata (2010) states of how 75% of the websites she researched on made claims of cover up, where regulatory bodies had information about vaccines they were from the public. Orac (2014) states of how conspiracy in the Muslim world made people into believing polio vaccines were evil plans by the Western nations to sterilize Muslim youth and reduce them in number. In the same sense, 50% of websites stated of how the government purportedly protects vaccine manufacturers and doctors from possible harms caused by vaccines (Tuteur, 2011). Other researchers have tried to elaborate on how spirituality and paranormal is in essence in line with anti-vaccination campaigns by creating perceptions of reality and empowerment unlike conspiracy (Daum&Weibe 2010). Despite a wealth of research on the way anti-vaccination is predicted by paranormal, spiritualism and conspiracy, none has been bold...
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